First mission (4)

  The rest of us sat still until Julian left to make breakfast. Jeff left afterwards to help Julian.

Later on, Mike and Conny left, leaving me and Harry.

"are you up for it? " Harry asked. It took a while for me to comprehend the question before answering.

"yeah " I said playing with my fingers.

"nervous? " I look up to find him staring at my fingers. I had almost forgotten that I play with my fingers whenever I was nervous.

"I am "

"don't work yourself up "

"I'm not. It's just.... "

"what?  Conny? "

I didn't say anything so he understood.

"look, Conny may not be the most exciting person to hang out with but I'm sure of one thing, he's the best partner you'll need for this mission "

"why can't we be partners? " that came out before I had the chance to stop it. I was starting to feel the insecurity creeping in.

I mean, me and Harry go way back. I was much more comfortable being around him than the others, well except Julian.

"I'm sorry, forget I asked "

"no it's fine. Trust me I would have liked to partner up with you for your first mission but there are issues that need my attention " I looked down at my hands which were currently resting on my laps.

"I'll tell you a secret " he said. I looked up at him.

"there's no other person I'll trust to partner up with you for missions "

"what? " now I'm confused.

"I'm not saying I don't trust the others, I'm just saying that I trust Conny more "  well, that's odd. I've barely seen them interact since I've moved here.

"let's go get breakfast before heading out, yeah? "

"okay " we both got up and went downstairs to meet the others.

         <time skip>

Conny and I have been outside this building for about forty five minutes and there has been no sign of a living person.

This was not how I pictured my first mission to be. I might as well just deal with it.

"looks like there's no body here " I said to break the silence that was creeping into my skin.

"I think so too " he replied me before returning his focus to our surrounding.

We can't be like this, it's too uncomfortable. I have to start up a conversation.

"sooo, do you always go on scouting missions or is this your first? " he stared at me for a while before answering.

"I'm always on scouting missions "

"why is that? "

"Nico said I have good eyesights "

"oh, that kinda fits, haha"  try not to sound too awkward Cole

"I guess it does " he smiles a little.

"so um, just between us, is it always this boring? "

"no. It's usually fun, you get to see different weird people and decide if they're tagged as dangerous or not. "

"what? No way, I'm going to tell Nico to put me up for more scouting missions"

"hahaha, that'll depend on how well you do today "  he laughed, he actually laughed!

"I know I know "  I said laughing along with him.

"but could you do a bro a quick favor?"

"depends "

"give a good report of me will ya? "

"Ha Ha, nice try "

"you won't? "

He shook his head

"ah! I don't like you anymore "

"oh, the feeling's mutual " he laughed again and I joined him.

We laughed till our stomachs were hurting.

And to think that a couple of hours back, I was nervous about Conny being my partner?

He was pretty cool to hangout with. He had a cool personality but he always hides it by being quiet.

Our little bonding moment was cut short by the sound of a vehicle which was being parked in front of the building.

"are those the bad guys? " I asked facing the direction of the car.

"yes. See that sign? " I looked at what he was pointing out.

It was a drawing of a skull and two swords placed in form of an 'x' behind the skull.

"yeah, what does it mean? "

"it's the 'Excalibur '"

"Excalibur? Is that the name of their gang? "

"yeah " he nodded

"and they're our enemy? "

"yes " he nodded again.

We watched as more of the Excaliburs  arrived in different cars but all in black colours.

Are they having some kind of meeting,

"keep your eyes on the mark Cole "

The mark, right. We kept looking at the men arriving, all dressed in black until I spotted a familiar figure.  Supermarket guy!